Sundae in the Park

Four of us went to PS-7 last night to sample their Restaurant Week menu. None of us had been there before, Sietsema's review was middling and this board hasn't discussed the place in a while or in great detail... we were flying blind.

PS 7 was great last night.

Everything you said, seconded. In addition, I was pleasantly surprised to find so many options for each course and delighted by the lack of upcharges. We had many of the same dishes, to similar effect, but I'll add that:

the veal was wonderfully tender and my first taste of sweetbreads was velvety smooth and surprisingly mild

the beingnets were in the good-but-standard category; would have been better served warm(er? we did wait a bit) and the chocolate sauce was far better than the strawberry sauce

the lemon cheesecake was strongly lemon-y and airy-light, the perfect cheesecake for the summer

the service was plentiful and professional

the restaurant is decorated almost exclusively in pleasing shades of brown and there are goldfish swimming in the walls of the women's restroom!!!

(Also, Tyler Cowen likes PS7's and correctly called their RW strategy! Click)

Word on those who mentioned the various duck dishes - the confit at Atlantico and the crispy at Thai square. So fatty, yet so good.

Yes and yes to those specific duck dishes. For French ducks there's also the duck confit shepherd's pie at La Bergerie. Go in for their prix-fixe lunch menu, get duck and a souffle, and feel immensely comforted...

Okay, I tried Monica's recipe that was published in the Post. I followed all the instructions to a T, and while it smelled right and tasted better than other versions I've tried to make at home, it was still lacking...something. One thing I could still taste strongly was the eggplant bitterness. I drained a lot of the liquid from the eggplant pulp after the roasting and the mashing (which I did quite thoroughly and I noticed that the texture of my bharta has improved considerably) but the result was still slightly bitter, rather than smoky. Also, there was a certain absence of richness, a missing unctuousness; granted, the layer of grease that I can pour off some restaurant versions is not to be missed, but perhaps they are adding a lot of butter? Maybe my palate for this dish has been ruined for the home-cooked version

Huh. Day after, the bharta tastes much better. Perhaps some of the sharper aromas have dissipated and the flavors have had time to meld? Maybe all I am missing is a hefty dose of restaurant grease. Ew.

You know, I've been regarded as blasphemous for having decried Five Guys in favor of In-N-Out (I compare them because, in my mind, they are similar homegrown, local chains). I never thought their burgers were anything special and in fact, their food as a whole is far too greasy for me.

I have now tried 5 Guys and found that they are extremely generous in sharing their peanut oil. Peanut oil for all! The burger was OK, not really beefy but with excellently crispy bacon, which overwhelms other flavors anyway. The fries were not quite dry - a bit oil-soaked - but would have been very good if they'd been left in the fryer an extra couple of minutes. I felt soooo greasy and a tad queasy when I finished eating (most of the burger, < half of the small fries).

I waited 4 years to try them and I don't think I'll feel the need to go back anytime soon.

Okay, I tried Monica's recipe that was published in the Post. I followed all the instructions to a T, and while it smelled right and tasted better than other versions I've tried to make at home, it was still lacking...something. One thing I could still taste strongly was the eggplant bitterness. I drained a lot of the liquid from the eggplant pulp after the roasting and the mashing (which I did quite thoroughly and I noticed that the texture of my bharta has improved considerably) but the result was still slightly bitter, rather than smoky. Also, there was a certain absence of richness, a missing unctuousness; granted, the layer of grease that I can pour off some restaurant versions is not to be missed, but perhaps they are adding a lot of butter? Maybe my palate for this dish has been ruined for the home-cooked version

Dino and <mumbles>. Buck's and <unintelligible>. BLT Steak and...uh, yeah. I think I have a one-track mind.

Seriously, after a steak dinner??!! I'm impressed.

I have a well-known propensity for, um...incentivizing good restaurant choice.

(Choose your) Thai food and a flick at the Arlington Cinema -n- Draft House.

So many places in Cleveland park and the zoo before hand or the Uptown afterwards.

Fish & Chips at Eamonn's and a walk around Old Town.

Vietnamese food, window shopping, and coffee in Clarendon.

A&J pork dumplings, definitely.

Seconded for both the fried and the steamed pork dumplings. The beef bun (fried) is also dumpling-like and exceedingly wonderful.

You people are brilliant, brilliant, I say! It turns out that my library is a treasure trove of cookbooks and I'm free to browse and make informed buying decisions at my leisure. Right now, The Silver Spoon is a featured title. Since I was already getting Marcella Hazen's Essentials, I checked out The Silver Spoon as well and now have an Italian cookbook cage fight going on in my very own home!!! Fight!!! (Right now TSS is winning. Not only because of its weight class superiority, but also becuase I love its organizational style.)

Next up, I'll get some Julia on Julia action, in order to decide which of her many tomes shall be mine. Now this is entertainment...

I just got finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France and now I really, really want to dash out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, I'm not sure I would actually use all of the fancy recipes (though it would fun to have them on hand!) and since then, she's written a number of other recipe books, most of which sound simpler. What would y'all recommend? Go straight to the top or pick one of the easier books? Suggestions?

You will have to tell me which dish! The baigan bharta recipe (see above) is pretty authentic and I think you will enjoy it. Most eggplant dishes dont use cream. Do you have a specific dish in mind?

Restaurant food, in my experience, is always different from home cooking but I hope I can help you re-create some favorite dish!

Baigan bharta has been my bane. Ideally, I want to make mine to taste like the version at Delhi Club (Clarendon). I've tried a bunch of recipes - most of the recipes I looked at seemed to be similar in ingredients and technique. But mine seems to be missing an essential richness and creaminess (maybe I should mash better? I don't think it actually has cream) of both taste and texture, though I have managed to get a smoked flavor by roasting the eggplants longer. I'm going to try your recipe this weekend and report back. Thanks for your help!!!

I had a hard time understanding the rampant praise for Eamonn's until I tried the grouper a few weeks back. While I am not a huge fan of some of the other items on the menu (and find the fries to be woefully inconsistent), the grouper made a believer out of me. For five bones, you get a meaty, hefty portion of grouper that really exemplifies how good fish n chips can be. Get it while it can be gotten.

When they first opened, the fried candy bars were simply battered and fried. On return visits, they were battered, fried, and then coated with sugar, which struck me as overkill. Are they still doing this?

Another grouper fan! Yeah!

Yes, they are still coating the candy with cinnamon-sugar, making it smell like fair food. I don't know if that's the last straw, but I can only eat one (small, but good) bite of them. Maybe you could ask them to leave it off?

The other night, with our (overpriced, but decent) kalbi, we got a cold (sweet potato?) noodle dish. The noodles were cooked and mixed with a red chile paste that was full of chile flavor, but not actually "hot." It also included some long, thin strips of beef and (my favorite) white pickle. This noodle-salady dish was a fantastic! It was a great counterpoint for the rest of our aggressively spicy and strongly-flavored meal. But, the dish did not really have a special name, as it was a side order option with the meat. Is it called anything specific, so I can order it at other places? Anybody have an idea?

I have discovered pork and it is good.

(I come from a family that didn't eat pig products, so I am only now slowly learning about the world of pork.)

That is to say, the steamed pork dumplings > beef dumplings > vegetarian dumplings, in terms of flavor.

Also, the pork potstickers are might tasty, and quite the generous serving.

Hey - Just saw this thread. Can I help?

Hi, yes! Any tips on how to make recipes for Indian eggplant dishes taste like their restaurant counterparts? I've tried a few and they always seem to be missing...something. Is it butter or cream? Extra salt? Letting the mixture sit so the flavors can meld? A magic, hidden-from-the-public ingredient? Thanks!!!

I had been expecting small portion based on some of the comments here. One large cod, one large grouper, a small cod, two large and one small chips was ample enough for me, Scott, Emma, Ian, Waitman, and Mrs. B. With leftovers.

The grouper was awesome!!! Somehow lighter and tastier than the cod, or perhaps less fishy, so I could better taste the batter. Ummmm, delicious batter...

You guys have got some good ideas - I'll be eating eggplant for a month!

Here's a quick eggplant stir-fry I was addicted to for awhile:

Cube a few pounds of Asian or regular eggplant, soak in salty water for ~10 minutes and drain.

Heat some oil and minced garlic, and stir fry the eggplant with a diced red chile or some hot chili flakes until the vegetable matter is soft and cooked through.

Add a dash of salt and a dash of sugar, some sesame oil, and oyster sauce to taste.

Swirl it all around in the pan until the mixture is incorporated and then serve!

Easy and yum.

If it's like the salt and pepper egglpant at China Star in the Chang era, as I recall it's a very lightly battered, thin-sliced eggplant deep fried and dressed with plenty of salt and chili peppers and some cilantro. Crisp, salty, chili-hot, cilantro-y. It was one of the best dishes I ever had at a Chinese restaurant.

Wow, that sounds like something I should be trying verrrrrry soon, like dinner tonight? Or prominently featured in an upcoming $20 Tuesday dinner?

Then return it! That is probably my greatest reason for loving TJs. I can try anything and if it doesn't work for me, I return it. 99% of the time I like it. It's a wonderful policy!

Heh, I'm picturing myself with a bowl of curried tuna and rice, holding it out to a Hawaiian-beshirted guy and saying, "I don't like it - please take it back."

However, it should work for the salmon log. I think I will return it!

Saying that your Italian sausage sucks ventworm nut is an insult to ventworm nut suckers everywhere!

What else do we not like from Trader Joes? Since just about everything looks and sounds good, I'm likely to try whatever strikes my fancy. However, this is not always a good thing.

Recently, I tried the salmon spread/pate roll. Approximately 15/16ths of the roll is still in my fridge and I don't think I'll ever get to the rest of it. It wasn't particularly flavorful and the texture was, um...paste-y? Not good.

Also, I do not like the prepared tuna curry packets. I thought the idea was excellent, but the smell/taste was overwhelmingly fishy and I couldn't even eat it.

Just tonight I made eggplant roasted two ways- both spritzed w/ garlic infused olive oil. 425 then 375 degree oven. Upper rack, in roasting pan: garlic powder, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper. Bottom rack, sliced thin, cooked till crisp like chips: cumin, curry powder mix, salt, pepper. Wait for the bottom one to smoke a bit, brown in the middle. Yum.

I've made a preparation similar to your upper rack eggplant and it turns out great. I've also tried something similar to your "eggplant chips," but mine turned out sort of dried and bitter. I did not salt the slices before roasting - was that my mistake? Or did I let them go too long? I'd like to try them again and get them right.

Sorry, I can't help you with Indian dishes (Monica Bhide, where ARE you?), but my go-to eggplant dish is Marcella Hazan's "Eggplant Patties with Parsley, Garlic and Parmesan" from her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Thanks, this sounds great! I've got the book on hold at my library and I can't wait to try it out.

Pat - that is a massive index of eggplant recipes!! Have you got any particular favorites? I'm especially looking for recipes that have already been tried and can be vouched for by folks I trust...like the Rockwellians!

With my (ironically, ethnically Chinese) name, I am the cheese of the (lactose-intolerant) people:

Cheddar is the most famous, and most widely eaten cheese in the world. Cheddar is a hard natual cheese, with a white to pale yellow colour, although some variants have artifical colours added to give a yellow or orange hue. It is matured for between 9 to 24 months, during which is evolves from a mild, smooth cheese to a strong, tangy, slightly crumbly cheese.

Including my middle name, however, I become...French?

Camembert - A soft creamy cheese named after the French village in Normandy in which it was created, by a woman named Marie Harel. It has a crumbly, edible rind, and gets softer as it ripens, giving off that familiar smell for which French cheese became infamous.

Heh.

I got carryout from China Star on Friday night. The Basilman said he didn't want any "ox anus" so I went with hot & sour soup, fried dumplings, spring rolls and the outstanding salt & pepper eggplant. Thank God that is still on the menu.

Hey all,

I am a devoted eggplant-eater, but not so much the eggplant-cooker. Anybody have tasty ideas about transforming the humble eggplant into a glorious dish? All recipes and hints are welcome, but I am especially interested in learning how to make a foolproof bangain bharta. I've spent enough $ on that particular dish at our fine Indian eateries that I want to at least have the option of making it at home. I have tried a few times to make it using various recipes (they all seem to be similar), with little success, even after the addition of extra butter. Anybody know how to make it taste like it does in the restaurants???

Thanks!!!

Sundae